Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch

Welcome toAfrica Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog.Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom ofExpression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace inDRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

Friday, January 20, 2012

RWANDA:Four Rwandan Generals Arrested on False Charges

FDU-INKINGI and RNC Statement on the suspension, arrest and detention of Senior Military Officers of Rwanda Defence Forces

Press Release20th January 2012Three Rwandan generals and a colonel were suspended from duty and placed under house arrest on 17 January 2012.
The defence spokesman, Colonel Joseph Nzabamwita, confirmed the
suspensions, arrests and detentions of Lieutenant General Fred Ibingira
(Chief of staff of the Reserve Force), Brigadier General Richard
Rutatina (Chief of Military Intelligence), Brigadier General Wilson
Gumisiriza (3rd Division Commander) and Colonel Dan Munyuza (Chief of
External Security Service). According to the official statement of the
military authorities, the four senior officers stand accused of having
had illegal business dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The suspensions, arrests and detentions of the officers has generated
widespread speculation, with some citizens and foreign analysts
speculating that the officers may have been involved in a plan to carry
out a coup d’état against the dictatorial regime of President Kagame.
We issue this statement to clarify the situation and to offer our
opinion on the implications of this significant development for the
people of Rwanda and the region.
According to our investigations, the suspensions, arrests and
detention of the four officers have nothing to do with any imaginary
failed military coup d’état. Neither do the suspensions, arrests and
detention have anything to do with the alleged illegal business dealings
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The truth behind the
suspensions, arrests and detentions instead relates to the Rwanda
Government’s long standing policy of aggression aiming to perpetually
destabilize and exploit the Eastern part of the DRC. This policy is
implemented by arming and supporting proxy rebel groups and installing
compliant civil authorities in the region. The rationale for this policy
is to keep the DRC militarily weak and vulnerable to manipulation and
blackmail, and to facilitate the illegal exploitation of its resources.
As the proprietor of the major Rwandan business enterprises involved in
business in Eastern DRC, President Kagame is the primary beneficiary of
the Rwanda’s policy of subversion in Eastern DRC. Instability and
volatility in the Eastern DRC serves the personal business interests of
President Kagame and the strategic interests of the current dictatorship
in Kigali. The maintenance of a chaotic, unstable and volatile
atmosphere in the DRC makes it possible for President Kagame to maintain
a military presence in Eastern DRC against the will and legitimate
wishes of the people of the DRC and to operate freely in the areas as if
Eastern DRC is not sovereign territory.
In furtherance of the policy to continue to destabilize and exploit
the eastern part of the DRC, President Kagame have over the recent past
deployed large numbers of senior Rwanda Defence Forces personnel,
including the above named four officers, on multiple missions into the
DRC to organize the rigging of elections of local and regional
government authorities. The four officers were jointly responsible for
the plan. Unfortunately, the subversive activities of the Rwanda
government and the frequent visits of RDF officers in particular came to
the knowledge of DRC’s President Kabila. Armed with overwhelming
evidence of the above mentioned subversive activities, President Kabila
reportedly confronted President Kagame over the presence and activities
of RDF officers on DRC territory.
The alleged suspension and detention of the four officers aims to
simply create a diversion because President Paul Kagame approved the
operations and deployment of the four and many other members of the
Rwanda Defence Forces in the DRC beforehand. The activities of the four
officers on DRC territory would otherwise be an indication of Kagame’s
loss of control over the army. The allegations of the officers’
involvement in business dealings with civilians in the DRC are a
cover-up. The civilians (such as Mr. Safari, Mr. Mabati and Mr. Muzungu)
who have been arrested alongside the military leaders are local
administration officials and not businessmen. If anybody ought to be
held accountable for crimes relating to smuggling from the DRC and the
illegal exploitation of the resources of the DRC, it should be President
Kagame, the employees of his personal businesses and his close business
associates. Private companies owned by President Kagame or by very
close business associates of General Kagame are still operating between
Rwanda and the Eastern DRC. We have no doubt that the suspended military
officers will, in conformity with past practice, be quietly released
and reintegrated into the military as soon as international attention
towards the illegal activities of the Rwanda Government in the DRC
wanes. General Ibingira was similarly put under house arrest in 1995
after the Kibeho massacres of internally displaced persons for which he
was responsible.
We take the opportunity of these recent developments to reiterate our
opposition to President Kagame’s use of the institutions and
instruments of the state to promote his personal business and financial
interests. We also once again draw to the attention of the people of
Rwanda, the peoples and governments of neighboring states and the wider
international community to the grave consequences of the Rwanda
Government’s campaign of destabilization and exploitation of the DRC. We
call upon the international community to condemn President Kagame’s
policies of subversion against the DRC. These policies perpetuate
instability and suffering in the DRC, continue to poison relations
between the peoples of both countries and future generations and are
such counter to the long term interests of the people of the Great Lakes
region as a whole.
Lausanne, Switzerland
Dr. Nkiko Nsengimana
Co-ordinator,
FDU-Inkingi Co-ordination Committee